Lin Kuo-chang Criticizes Rival for Treating Yilan as Taipei's 'Vassal'; Wu Tsung-hsien Camp Rebuts 'Self-Deprecation'

(CNA, Yilan, May 20, by reporter Wang Chao-yu) Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Yilan County magistrate candidate Lin Kuo-chang today questioned his opponent Wu Tsung-hsien for positioning Yilan as a vassal of Taipei, ignoring local subjectivity. Wu Tsung-hsien's camp countered, urging Lin Kuo-chang not to be self-deprecating, stating that Yilan aims to be a 'major city' and can achieve great things. Through a press release, Lin Kuo-chang stated that Yilan has a unique development context, and policy planning should center on the well-being of Yilan's people and local sustainable development. He argued that Wu Tsung-hsien repeatedly examines Yilan through a Taipei-centric lens, ignoring local identity, and that past election proposals like the Northern Taiwan 8 Counties/Cities Platform often become mere slogans with limited effectiveness. Lin believes Wu Tsung-hsien's proposal to position the Yilan Science Park (YSP) as a complementary hub for Taipei's Shilin Science Park, introducing the 'packaging and testing' industry, is out of touch with reality, as the YSP has already successfully attracted optoelectronic materials and AI supply chain companies. Lin said that the YSP has strict 'total pollution caps and environmental impact assessment limits.' If silicon photonics packaging and testing involves wafer-level packaging, it would generate heavy metals and acid-alkaline wastewater. Lin criticized Wu for hastily advocating the introduction of the packaging and testing industry chain without proposing 'advanced wastewater recycling systems' and an 'environmental capacity assessment,' which not only could impact Yilan's clean environment but also ignores the park's existing environmental restrictions. In response, Cheng Hao-wen, spokesperson for the campaign office of Kuomintang (KMT) Yilan County magistrate candidate Wu Tsung-hsien, stated that Lin Kuo-chang should not oppose for the sake of opposition and deliberately confuse the public. He urged Lin to have confidence in Yilan, not to be self-deprecating, as Yilan County aims to be a 'major city' and can achieve great things. He questioned if Lin's strong opposition to inter-county cooperation meant he wanted to 'lock down the county' and operate in isolation. Cheng said that while Lin boasts about the major companies in YSP, he deliberately ignores the reality that only 40% of the park's land is leased. He questioned if the DPP's tech strategy is to give up and do nothing, and urged not to hinder Yilan's transition to a high-wage economy. Cheng argued that Lin is using outdated perceptions of pollution from traditional wafer fabs to stigmatize advanced optoelectronic physical packaging and should not mislead voters by lumping them together. Wu Tsung-hsien advocates for attracting 'silicon photonics packaging and testing,' which is in the downstream supply chain. The original intent of YSP's strict environmental caps was to block traditional high-pollution industries, whereas silicon photonics packaging is a low-pollution, low-energy consumption, high-value-added cutting-edge industry actively promoted by the National Science and Technology Council and the Hsinchu Science Park. (Editor: Lin Shu-hui)